Article May 1, 1989 Issue

"Try the spirits"

We don't need to believe everything we're told. Only what comes from God is true!

Maurene V. Barnes

From the time when we were small children most of us were taught that certain material conditions would bring suffering. Most of us can remember hearing statements like "Don't play with Johnny or you'll catch the measles" or "If you get your feet wet, you'll catch cold." Even as adults, we hear such things as "I can't eat that because it upsets my stomach."

There are many variations, but all such predictions point to the widespread belief that we live in a mortal body we cannot always control. Yet instead of accepting something we're told simply because it is a long-held belief, we should question whether what presents itself to our thought is from God or is a lie, a product of false education. The Bible urges, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God."^{I John 4:1.} In other words, if it isn't good, it doesn't come from God. Therefore it can't be true and we don't need to believe it.

The belief that we are helpless victims of terrible things our bodies can do independently of our own volition obviously isn't good and has not a shred of truth. And the only way we are victimized by a falsehood is if we give it power by believing it. The Bible tells us that man is made in God's own image and likeness. This means that man—the true identity of each of us—is spiritual, whole, and perfect. Mrs. Eddy, in her book Science and Health, says: "The enslavement of man is not legitimate. It will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God-given dominion over the material senses."^{Science and Health, p. 228.}

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